The commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, has been fired after the Ukrainian military managed to sink another Russian warship this week, Russian military bloggers and a former Kremlin adviser said Thursday.

However, there is no official confirmation of the dismissal of Admiral Sokolov, Reuters notes, indicating that the Ministry of Defense in Moscow did not respond to a request for comment on the information.

Admiral Viktor Sokolov assumed command of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in September 2022 after a series of humiliating losses suffered by the fleet, including the sinking of his flagship cruiser Moskva by Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles.

But the Russian fleet continued to suffer losses, and its ships in ports or at sea increasingly became targets of Ukrainian missiles and naval drone attacks.

Ukraine claims to have “destroyed” a total of 25 Russian warships and a submarine in this way since the start of the war, which was launched by Russia in February 2022. Some military experts believe that the Ukrainian military was aided in at least some of these attacks by data provided by American reconnaissance aircraft.

Ukraine announced on Wednesday the destruction of the Russian amphibious assault ship “Cesar Kunikov” during an operation that used attack drones near the Crimean peninsula.

Although the dismissal of Admiral Viktor Sokolov has not been officially confirmed, Reuters recalls that during the war with Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry often replaced high-ranking officers without any public notice.

In addition to the usually well-informed Russian military bloggers, former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov also announced that Admiral Sokolov had been fired.

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